QQ, Sina microblogs suspend comment function

Two major Chinese microblogging sites, weibo.com and t.qq.com, have suspended comment functions after they were punished for allowing rumors to spread.

The t.qq.com, run by Tencent, put up an online announcement Saturday morning that it has decided to suspend comment function from March 31 to April 3 to clean up rumors and other illegal information spread through microbloggings.

The weibo.com operated by Sina also released a announcement Saturday saying it would suspend comment function during the above-mentioned period.

Chinese authorities have closed 16 websites and detained six people responsible for "fabricating or disseminating online rumors".

The State Internet Information Office (SIIO) and Beijing police said Friday that those websites were closed for spreading rumors of "military vehicles entering Beijing and something wrong going on in Beijing," which were fabricated by some lawless people recently.

Beijing police also detained six people for allegedly fabricating and spreading the above-mentioned rumors, particularly through microblogging posts, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Public Security.

A spokesman with the SIIO also said with regard to a number of rumors having appeared on weibo.com and t.qq.com, the two popular microblogging sites have been "criticized and punished accordingly" by Internet information administration authorities in Beijing and Guangdong respectively.